The Supreme Court of Guam on Friday vacated the court order that allowed Department of Public Health and Social Services to withhold drugs seized from Wise Owl veterinarian Dr. Joel Joseph.

The drugs were seized in 2013.

The high court instructed the Superior Court of Guam to determine whether there is still an investigation into the case and require Joseph to show that Public Health’s seizure of his drugs was illegal, the opinion states. Furthermore, the Superior Court should require Joseph to show he’s lawfully entitled to have the drugs.

If there isn’t an investigation, Supreme Court justices stated that Public Health has to show it has a legitimate reason to keep Joseph’s drugs.

Controlled substance registration

Joseph uses certain drugs in his veterinary practice and needs a controlled substance registration certificate to possess the drugs, the opinion states.

Joseph is registered with Drug Enforcement Administration and can legally have controlled substances but doesn’t have a permit to import drugs, according to the Supreme Court opinion

In April 2012, Joseph submitted a renewal for his controlled substance registration but Public Health didn’t renew it and it expired. Public Health issued an order demanding a reason from Joseph as to why his registration shouldn’t be revoked but then rescinded that order.

Public Health then told Wise Owl that the registration was approved and could be picked up but Public Health never released the registration to Joseph, documents state.

Veterinary license renewal dispute

Later in November 2012, Joseph sought to renew his veterinary license but the Guam Board of Allied Health Examiners didn’t renew the license because, in part, Public Health didn’t release the controlled substance registration to him, documents state.

Joseph then asked the court to compel the board to renew his veterinary license. While he awaited the court to resolve his license issue, Public Health searched and seized several items and drugs from Joseph’s clinic.

The Superior Court ordered Public Health to return items taken from the clinic, except for the drugs. Later, Public Health returned 17 of the 37 seized drugs and the court held a hearing about the remaining 20 controlled substances.

The Superior Court determined that the 20 substances “should not be returned because Dr. Joseph could not prove that he was authorized to import drugs and did not have proper import-export records,” court documents state.

The Supreme Court justices reversed the Superior Court judgment and sent the case back to the lower court for further proceedings consistent with their findings.

Veterinarian responds

Reached by phone Monday, Joseph said his license was "never discontinued," and the 2013 raid was considered illegal.

Joseph said Public Health has yet to return 25-percent of all paperwork seized in the raid, and all the copies the government made.

Joseph said although the seized controlled substance Ketamine — used in anesthetics — would have expired by now, he was pressing to have them returned because he doesn't believe the government still has them. "They don't want to return them because they don't have them," Joseph said. Joseph alleged that Public Health tampered with inventory records and stole the drugs.

Public Health Director James Gillan denied those allegations. He said the content inventory list was corrected. "To say we 'stole' anything is not correct," he said.

Joseph said the Supreme Court decision reinforces that what the government did was wrong, he said. "This is the 37th case I've won and (the government) has lost," he said.

Joseph said he has an ongoing federal civil rights case against 55 government officials and workers. "I'm not going away and I'm not going to settle," he said.